The name Honolulu can conjure up frenzied activity: exploring the sea with electric scooters, high-altitude extreme parasailing, close encounters with sharks, 40-miles-per-hour motorboat rides that guarantee you’ll get wet. But Honolulu can also mean mellow: the fragrance of a custom-made orchid lei, the taste and texture of a perfect tuna sashimi slice, the elegance of a hula dancer, the deepening of the blues and greens of the sea as the sun sets. Even the steel-mesh netting to prevent falling rocks is partly hidden so as to blend with the landscape. Then there is the pace, the feeling that no one is ever too rushed to give you directions, take your dinner order or explain the history of a 100-year-old banyan tree.

via What to Do in Honolulu – NYTimes.com.